Circuit architectures for a differentially segmented aperture antenna

ABSTRACT

In an approach to a system for a differentially segmented aperture (DSA) antenna includes protrusions arranged in an array, and pixels formed in an array, each pixel formed between two adjacent protrusions; and one or more signal chains, each including: transmit circuitry comprising digital-to-analog circuitry to generate an analog signal at a selected operating frequency based on a transmit digital signal representing the first analog signal to be transmitted to a target; receive circuitry comprising analog-to-digital circuitry to receive a second analog signal at the plurality of pixels of the DSA antenna, and to generate a receive digital signal representing the second analog signal; and pixel combiner circuitry to receive the first analog signal and control the pixels of the array with the first analog signal, and to receive analog signals from the pixels of the array and combine the analog signals to form an array analog receive signal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/273,349, filed Oct. 29, 2021, theentire teachings of which application is hereby incorporated herein byreference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to circuit architectures for adifferentially segmented aperture (DSA) antenna.

BACKGROUND

The DSA is an ultra-wideband, directional aperture that is capable offull-duplex communications and beam-steering (where beam steering isused to reference beam forming and directing in both the transmit andreceive directions, which includes direction finding and nullinginterferes) with a 180-degree field of regard. The DSA is alsogeometrically scalable and can increase the dimensions of beam-steeringbased upon its configuration, which are basic requisites of fifthgeneration cellular technology.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference should be made to the following detailed description whichshould be read in conjunction with the following figures, wherein likenumerals represent like parts.

FIG. 1 illustrates various views of a differentially segmented aperture(DSA) antenna according to several embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates signal chain circuitry examples for Tx and Rxoperations of the array according to several embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates another DSA antenna according to one embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates signal chain circuitry according to anotherembodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates signal chain circuitry according to anotherembodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates signal chain circuitry according to anotherembodiment.

FIGS. 7-10 illustrate various examples of combiner circuitry to drive aplurality of pixels in a group and/or drive a plurality of groups ofpixels.

FIGS. 11-15 illustrate various examples of architectures according toseveral embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 16 illustrates signal chain circuitry that includes a plurality ofinstances of DAC/ADC circuitry.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure is not limited in its application to the detailsof construction and the arrangement of components set forth in thefollowing description or illustrated in the drawings. The examplesdescribed herein may be capable of other embodiments and of beingpracticed or being carried out in various ways. Also, it may beappreciated that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for thepurpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting as suchmay be understood by one of skill in the art. Throughout the presentdescription, like reference characters may indicate like structurethroughout the several views, and such structure need not be separatelydiscussed. Furthermore, any particular feature(s) of a particularexemplary embodiment may be equally applied to any other exemplaryembodiment(s) of this specification as suitable. In other words,features between the various exemplary embodiments described herein areinterchangeable, and not exclusive.

FIG. 1 illustrates various views of a DSA antenna 100 according toseveral embodiments of the present disclosure. The antenna 100 includesa plurality of protrusions, which in the examples herein are generallypyramid structures, arranged in an array, one of the pyramid structuresis labeled 102. The DSA needs the protrusions, i.e., the pyramidstructures 102, to capture the impingent electromagnetic energy, but theprotrusions alone are insufficient to make use of that electromagneticenergy. Using the energy requires a signal chain, which ultimatelyconverts the energy into digital information, and multiple signal chainscan be used on one DSA. A signal chain may include transmit (Tx)circuitry, receive (Rx) circuitry, and/or both Tx and Rx circuitry. Theaggregation of these signal chains is called the electricalarchitecture. Disclosed herein are details of the various approaches tothe electrical architecture.

In some embodiments, the DSA interfaces with free space forelectromagnetic capture and launch in a differential mode, which meansthat it functions based on a difference in signal between twoconductors. Most off-the-shelf RF circuitry assumes a single ended modeof operation where a signal is on a single conductor and is referencedto a ground. The DSA architecture can be made to work with the singleended circuitry through a transformer referred to as a balun (short forbalanced-unbalanced).

At least one face of each pyramid structure faces an adjacent pyramidstructure, as illustrated in FIG. 1 . Opposing faces of two adjacentpyramid structures form an antenna element. Balun circuitry 104 isdisposed between two pyramid structures, to receive a differentialsignal generated by the element defined by two adjacent pyramidstructures (in an Rx mode) and to generate a differential signal ontothe two adjacent pyramid structures (in a Tx mode). As illustrated, inTx mode, the balun circuitry 104 receives a single ended signal andgenerates a differential pair of signals, one for each opposing face ofadjacent pyramid structures 102. In Rx mode, the balun circuitry 104receives a differential signal (one from each opposing face of adjacentpyramid structures 102) and generates a single-ended signal. Theelectromagnetic position of an element is the phase center for thatelement. Each phase center represents a transmission (Tx) and reception(Rx) point for signals transmitted by, or received by, an element. Thevertical and horizontal elements are arranged in an (m×n) array, havingm number of rows and n number columns of elements. In some embodiments,the pyramid structures are generally identical to one another, and arealso generally equidistant from each other, for example, each element isone inch apart from the nearest element.

The example illustrated in FIG. 1 shows how the baluns may connect thepyramids and convert the differential signal to a single ended signal,and a corresponding 2×1 DSA configuration. In this case each face of thepyramid structure 102 is connected to the opposing face through thedifferential side of the balun. In this disclosure this structure formedbetween two adjacent protrusions is referred to as a pixel.

FIG. 2 illustrates signal chain circuitry examples for Tx and Rxoperations of the array 200 according to several embodiments of thepresent disclosure. The first signal chain circuitry 202 is an exampleof time division multiplexing for Tx and Rx operations. Circuitry 202includes Tx circuitry that includes digital-to-analog converter (DAC)circuitry 204 to receive a digital signal representing data and aselected operating frequency and may also include phase information forbeam steering operations (described below). The digital signal may begenerated by, for example, radio circuitry (not shown). The DACcircuitry 204 generates an analog signal representative of the data at aselected operating frequency to be transmitted to a target by theelement of the array (via the balun circuitry). The Tx circuitry mayalso include transmit amplifier circuitry 206, which may be, forexample, a power amplifier, to provide a selected signal gain on theoutput of the DAC circuitry 204. Circuitry 202 may also include Rxcircuitry that includes filter circuitry 208 to filter the single-endedsignal generated by the balun circuitry, and receive amplifier circuitry210, which may be, for example, a low noise amplifier (LNA), to providesignal gain on the signal received by the balun circuitry. The Rxcircuitry also includes analog-to-digital circuitry (ADC) 214 togenerate a digital signal from the analog signal received by the baluncircuitry. Switch circuitry 212 generally operates to switch between theTx circuitry and Rx circuitry at defined time periods using, forexample, time division duplexing (TDD).

Signal chain circuitry example 220 is similar to signal chain circuitryexample 202, except signal chain circuitry example 220 is configured forfrequency division duplexing (FDD) and/or full duplexing (FD) in Tx andRx operational modes.

FDD allows simultaneous transmit and receive by transmitting andreceiving on separate frequencies and filtering out the transmitfrequency from the received signal. In the example of FIG. 2 , theswitch 212 of the TDD example is replaced by duplexer circuitry 224 toenable duplexing/full duplexing. The duplexer circuitry 224 may be adiplexer, a circulator, etc., for the FDD example. A diplexer dividestransmit and receive by frequency, whereas a circulator acts like aseries of gates permitting the transmit energy to largely avoidreflecting into the RX pathway. The diplexer is not adjustable andrequires a designed-in approach to frequency operation. The circulatorcircuitry typically does not exceed approximately 1 GHz in bandwidth.Full duplex means the device can transmit and receive on the samefrequency at the same time, isolating the RX path from the TX path. Thisis commonly achieved through using different antennas or a circulator,combined with a cancellation circuitry that connects the TX path to theRX path through an inverse signal. The DSA architecture achieves fullduplex operation either by having the TX and RX pathways on differentsets of protrusions, and thus using different signal chains for eachmode, or by including a circulator.

Signal chain circuitry example 220 includes cancellation circuitry 222coupled to the output of the DAC circuitry (in Tx mode) and the input ofthe ADC circuitry (in Rx mode) and generally configured to cancel Txmodulation waveforms so the input of the ADC does not receive thetransmitted signals.

FIG. 3 illustrates another DSA antenna 300 according to one embodimentof the present disclosure. The example of FIG. 3 includes a 4×4 DSA thatsupports up to 40 individual signal chains. This embodiment illustratesthe grouping of pixels. For example, horizontal pixels may be groupedtogether in respective columns 304 a, 304 b, 304 c, and 304 d; andvertical pixels may be grouped together in respective rows 306 a, 306 b,306 c, and 306 d. Of course, the array in DSA antenna 300 may includepixel groupings not shown, for example, a sub-array may contain groupsof four pixels in a square, groups of three pixels, two pixels, etc.Grouping of pixels may enable signal chain circuitry to control multiplepixels simultaneously and may also reduce circuit component costscompared to driving each pixel independently. This approach may alsoprovide for increased signal dynamic range; aperture subsetting, where aportion of the aperture is dedicated to a function and a differentportion dedicated to a different function; and dynamic and arbitrarybeam forming and polarization generation.

It is sometimes desirable to combine the signals so that one signalchain supports multiple pixels. In these cases, it is most logical tocombine the pixels into rows and columns, which maintains multipledynamic polarization transmission and reception operation and beamsteering and forming in azimuth and elevation. FIG. 4 illustrates signalchain circuitry 400 according to another embodiment to drive a groupingof pixels and/or multiple groupings of pixels. The signal chaincircuitry 400 is similar to the signal circuitry chain examples of FIG.2 and includes pixel combiner circuitry 402 configured to drive aplurality of pixels in a group using a single instance of the Tx/Rxcircuitry described above. The combiner circuitry 402 is a bidirectionaldevice, meaning current can flow either way, or both wayssimultaneously. Thus, in Tx mode, the pixel combiner circuitry 402 iscoupled to a plurality of grouped pixels such that each pixel in thegroup receives the same signal, and in Rx mode the combiner circuitry402 combines the signals from each pixel in the group to generate asingle array analog receive signal. In some embodiments, the signalchain circuitry may be repeated for each grouping of pixels.Accordingly, in such embodiments, the signal chain circuitry 400 mayalso include a first group combiner circuitry 404 to split the output ofthe DAC circuitry to multiple groups, and second group combiner 406circuitry to combine the received signals from multiple groups into asingle signal.

For beam steering operations, phase information may be imparted onmultiple groups, for example, multiple horizontal groups to enable beamsteering of the array in DSA antenna 300 in an elevation direction.Accordingly, FIG. 5 illustrates signal chain circuitry 500 according toanother embodiment that includes first phase shift circuitry 502 toimpart a phase shift (or time delay) on a group of pixels in Tx mode,and second phase shift/delay 504 to impart a phase shift (time delay) ona group of pixels in Rx mode.

The number of RF components that operate on signals differentiallyinstead of single ended is steadily increasing. This progress willenable the DSA to operate with a fully differential signal chain. FIG. 6illustrates a fully differential signal chain circuitry 600 according toanother embodiment. In this embodiment, the balun circuitry may beomitted, and the inputs are maintained as a balanced pair all the way tothe conversion from or to a digital word at the ADC/DAC. Note that it ispossible to also consider a semi-differential signal chain wheredifferential signals are maintained to a location short of the DAC andADC, and baluns are used to convert at that point.

FIGS. 7-10 illustrate various examples of combiner circuitry (e.g.,pixel combiner circuitry and/or group combiner circuitry) to drive aplurality of pixels in a group and/or drive a plurality of groups ofpixels.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example where the combiner is included after thesignal chain and fans out to 4 pixels. These pixels are shown in a row,and a 4-1 combiner is utilized in front of the signal chain. In thisscenario, all 4 pixels receive the same signal, and steering along theazimuth is not possible. In some embodiments, a phase shifter may beplaced between the combiner and baluns. The approach represents a lowpower, low-cost configuration with corresponding reduced performance.Note that these examples could easily be extending to multiple DSAs,e.g., a 10×10 DSA requiring 9-1 combiners.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment where multiple combiners may be used inseries to create a combiner with larger fanout, or to enable phaseshifting across multiple pixels. In the example of FIG. 8 , two 2-1combiners are stacked in series. Additionally, a mixer may be placedbetween the combiners, permitting some beam forming and steering betweenthe groups.

FIG. 9 illustrates that the combiner approach need not be homogeneous,i.e., the use of combiners is not balanced between the pixels. Thecombiner of FIG. 9 is a 3-1 and then a straight connection to the signalchain. This approach may be useful when the DSA is designed to processmultiple signals of interest simultaneously, with differentpower/sensitivity needs. In this case when the full DSA performance isneeded the two signal chains are combined in the digital domain.

In FIG. 10 , a final example configuration increases the performance bysegregating the TX and RX pathways from the aperture via a duplexer(switch, circulator, diplexer). In FIG. 10 , a doubling in the number ofcombiners is necessary, but the performance is increased greatly. TheLNAs can negate the loss of the combiners, and one is no longerrestricted to the power limitations of the combiners because the PA isdownstream.

FIGS. 11-15 illustrate various examples of architectures that each havetheir own performance characteristics according to several embodimentsof the present disclosure. Note that in these drawings, the combiner isshown interfacing directly with the balun. It is important to note thatall of these drawings could also be shown with the combiners as shown inthe 2nd position of FIG. 4 above.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 11 illustrates an architecture thatoffers 4 signal chains in horizontal polarization and 4 signal chains invertical polarization. This configuration pairs well with SoftwareDefined Radios (SDRs), which have power of two channel counts. Thisdesign allows simultaneous operation on both polarizations, the abilityto measure incoming polarization, and the ability to beam steer and formin both azimuth and elevation.

To mitigate the need for uncommon 5-1 combiners, the approach in FIG. 12can be taken. Here the pixels on one vertical and one horizontalperimeter are not brought into the signal chain, causing a slightreduction in effective aperture area. Thus, only one face of theprotrusions are in use. This approach permits more common combinerfanouts to be used, as powers of 2 are most popular. To make better useof the unused faces, the concept of FIG. 9 could be applied to permit anadditional signal of interest to be investigated.

When a single polarization is of interest, or beam steering and formingare only necessary in one polarization, the embodiment illustrated inFIG. 13 is useful. Here the columns are combined into a single signalchain, while the rows are served by four signal chains. This isparticularly useful if two signals of interest are in operation andforming and steering are not needed on one of those signals.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 14 is a DSA architecture that servesa single signal chain with no capability to measure or controlpolarization or to beam form/steer. This form may be used to support anexisting single channel radio that simply needs efficient, ultrawidebandperformance.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 15 shows a DSA where each pixel hasits horizontal and vertical polarizations combined and is connected toits own signal chain. This approach is useful with low noise andhigh-power efficiency are required, and exquisite beamforming is needed,but the beam pattern and reception pattern shall be symmetrical inpolarization.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 16 shows a signal chain circuitry1600 that includes a plurality of instances of DAC/ADC circuitry todrive groups of pixel with unique signals and may also include verticalcombiner circuitry (combiner 1−M) and/or horizontal combiner circuitry(combiner N−1). One of the key features of the DSA is its ultrawidebandwidth and ability to support many signals simultaneously. To achievethis, the architecture of FIG. 16 can be used in any of the precedingexample combiner circuitry.

According to one aspect of the disclosure there is thus provided asystem for a differentially segmented aperture (DSA) antenna, the systemincluding a plurality of protrusions arranged in an array, and aplurality of pixels formed in an array, each pixel formed between twoadjacent protrusions; and one or more signal chains. Each signal chainof the one or more signal chains including: transmit (Tx) circuitrycomprising digital-to-analog (DAC) circuitry to generate a first analogsignal at a selected operating frequency based on a transmit digitalsignal representing the first analog signal, the first analog signal tobe transmitted by the DSA antenna to a target; receive (Rx) circuitrycomprising analog-to-digital (ADC) circuitry to receive, from thetarget, a second analog signal at the plurality of pixels of the DSAantenna, and to generate a receive digital signal representing thesecond analog signal; and pixel combiner circuitry to receive the firstanalog signal and control the pixels of the array with the first analogsignal, the pixel combiner circuitry also to receive a plurality ofanalog signals from the pixels of the array and combine the plurality ofanalog signals from the pixels of the array to form an array analogreceive signal.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided asystem for a differentially segmented aperture (DSA) antenna. The systemincluding: a plurality of protrusions arranged in an array, and aplurality of pixels formed in an array, each pixel formed between twoadjacent protrusions; and one or more signal chains. Each signal chainof the one or more signal chains including: transmit (Tx) circuitrycomprising digital-to-analog (DAC) circuitry to generate a first analogsignal at a selected operating frequency based on a transmit digitalsignal representing the first analog signal, the first analog signal tobe transmitted by the DSA antenna to a target; transmit amplifiercircuitry to amplify the first analog signal with a first selectedsignal gain; receive (Rx) circuitry comprising analog-to-digital (ADC)circuitry to receive, from the target, a second analog signal at theplurality of pixels of the DSA antenna, and to generate a receivedigital signal representing the second analog signal; receive amplifiercircuitry to amplify received signals with a second selected signalgain; pixel combiner circuitry to receive the first analog signal andcontrol the pixels of the array with the first analog signal, the pixelcombiner circuitry also to receive a plurality of analog signals fromthe pixels of the array and combine the plurality of analog signals fromthe pixels of the array to form an array analog receive signal; andphase shift circuitry to generate a phase shift for the first analogsignal to perform beam steering.

As used in this application and in the claims, a list of items joined bythe term “and/or” can mean any combination of the listed items. Forexample, the phrase “A, B and/or C” can mean A; B; C; A and B; A and C;B and C; or A, B and C. As used in this application and in the claims, alist of items joined by the term “at least one of” can mean anycombination of the listed terms. For example, the phrases “at least oneof A, B or C” can mean A; B; C; A and B; A and C; B and C; or A, B andC.

“Circuitry”, as used in any embodiment herein, may comprise, forexample, singly or in any combination, hardwired circuitry, programmablecircuitry such as processors comprising one or more individualinstruction processing cores, state machine circuitry, and/or firmwarethat stores instructions executed by programmable circuitry and/orfuture computing circuitry including, for example, massive parallelism,analog or quantum computing, hardware embodiments of accelerators suchas neural net processors and non-silicon implementations of the above.The circuitry may, collectively or individually, be embodied ascircuitry that forms part of a larger system, for example, an integratedcircuit (IC), system on-chip (SoC), application-specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), programmable logic devices (PLD), digital signalprocessors (DSP), field programmable gate array (FPGA), logic gates,registers, semiconductor device, chips, microchips, chip sets, etc.

Any of the operations described herein may be implemented in a systemthat includes one or more non-transitory storage devices having storedtherein, individually or in combination, instructions that when executedby circuitry to perform the operations. The storage device includes anytype of tangible medium, for example, any type of disk including harddisks, floppy disks, optical disks, compact disk read-only memories(CD-ROMs), compact disk rewritables (CD-RWs), and magneto-optical disks,semiconductor devices such as read-only memories (ROMs), random accessmemories (RAMs) such as dynamic and static RAMs, erasable programmableread-only memories (EPROMs), electrically erasable programmableread-only memories (EEPROMs), flash memories, Solid State Disks (SSDs),embedded multimedia cards (eMMCs), secure digital input/output (SDIO)cards, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable forstoring electronic instructions. The instructions may be of the form offirmware executable code, software executable code, embedded instructionsets, application software, etc. Other embodiments may be implemented assoftware executed by a programmable control device. Also, it is intendedthat operations described herein may be distributed across a pluralityof physical devices, such as processing structures at more than onedifferent physical location.

The terms and expressions which have been employed herein are used asterms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention,in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalentsof the features shown and described (or portions thereof), and it isrecognized that various modifications are possible within the scope ofthe claims. Accordingly, the claims are intended to cover all suchequivalents. Various features, aspects, and embodiments have beendescribed herein. The features, aspects, and embodiments are susceptibleto combination with one another as well as to variation andmodification, as will be understood by those having skill in the art.The present disclosure should, therefore, be considered to encompasssuch combinations, variations, and modifications.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in oneembodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout thisspecification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics maybe combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a differentially segmentedaperture (DSA) antenna comprising a plurality of protrusions arranged inan array, and a plurality of pixels formed in an array, each pixelformed between two adjacent protrusions; and one or more signal chains,each signal chain of the one or more signal chains comprising: transmit(Tx) circuitry comprising digital-to-analog (DAC) circuitry to generatea first analog signal at a selected operating frequency based on atransmit digital signal representing the first analog signal, the firstanalog signal to be transmitted by the DSA antenna to a target; receive(Rx) circuitry comprising analog-to-digital (ADC) circuitry to receive,from the target, a second analog signal at the plurality of pixels ofthe DSA antenna, and to generate a receive digital signal representingthe second analog signal; and pixel combiner circuitry to receive thefirst analog signal and control the pixels of the array with the firstanalog signal, the pixel combiner circuitry also to receive a pluralityof analog signals from the pixels of the array and combine the pluralityof analog signals from the pixels of the array to form an array analogreceive signal.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein each protrusion of theplurality of protrusions comprises a pyramid structure.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein a first subset of the pixels being grouped together toform a first sub-array of pixels.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein asecond subset of the pixels being grouped together to form a secondsub-array of pixels; and wherein the second sub-array of pixels furthercomprising group combiner circuitry to couple the second sub-array ofpixels with a single signal chain of the one or more signal chains. 5.The system of claim 1, wherein each opposing face of each protrusion ofthe plurality of protrusions is connected to a different signal chain.6. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmit circuitry and the Rxcircuitry further comprising phase shift circuitry to generate a phaseshift for the first analog signal to perform beam steering.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the transmit circuitry further comprising:transmit amplifier circuitry to amplify the first analog signal with afirst selected signal gain; and receive amplifier circuitry to amplifyreceived signals with a second selected signal gain.
 8. The system ofclaim 7, further comprising: a first combiner in the transmit circuitrycoupled between the DAC circuitry and the transmit amplifier circuitry;and a second combiner in the Rx circuitry coupled between the ADCcircuitry and the receive amplifier circuitry.
 9. The system of claim 1,wherein the signal chain is processed in a differential mode, andfurther wherein the differential mode comprises maintaining a balancedpair of conductors.
 10. The system of claim 1, further comprising switchcircuitry to switch between the Tx circuitry and the Rx circuitry usingtime division multiplexing.
 11. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising circulator circuitry to enable simultaneous Tx and Rxoperations of the DSA antenna.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein pixelsare grouped into one or more rows and one or more columns, with each rowand each column receiving an individual signal chain, and furtherwherein each row and each column receiving the individual signal chainpermits dynamic polarization transmission and reception, and beamsteering in azimuth and elevation.
 13. A system, comprising: adifferentially segmented aperture (DSA) antenna comprising a pluralityof protrusions arranged in an array, and a plurality of pixels formed inan array, each pixel formed between two adjacent protrusions; and one ormore signal chains, each signal chain of the one or more signal chainscomprising: transmit (Tx) circuitry comprising digital-to-analog (DAC)circuitry to generate a first analog signal at a selected operatingfrequency based on a transmit digital signal representing the firstanalog signal, the first analog signal to be transmitted by the DSAantenna to a target; transmit amplifier circuitry to amplify the firstanalog signal with a first selected signal gain; receive (Rx) circuitrycomprising analog-to-digital (ADC) circuitry to receive, from thetarget, a second analog signal at the plurality of pixels of the DSAantenna, and to generate a receive digital signal representing thesecond analog signal; receive amplifier circuitry to amplify receivedsignals with a second selected signal gain; pixel combiner circuitry toreceive the first analog signal and control the pixels of the array withthe first analog signal, the pixel combiner circuitry also to receive aplurality of analog signals from the pixels of the array and combine theplurality of analog signals from the pixels of the array to form anarray analog receive signal; and phase shift circuitry to generate aphase shift for the first analog signal to perform beam steering. 14.The system of claim 13, wherein each protrusion of the plurality ofprotrusions comprises a pyramid structure.
 15. The system of claim 13,wherein a first subset of the pixels being grouped together to form afirst sub-array of pixels.
 16. The system of claim 13, wherein a secondsubset of the pixels being grouped together to form a second sub-arrayof pixels; and wherein the second sub-array of pixels further comprisinggroup combiner circuitry to couple the second sub-array of pixels with asingle signal chain of the one or more signal chains.
 17. The system ofclaim 13, wherein each opposing face of each protrusion of the pluralityof protrusions is connected to a different signal chain.
 18. The systemof claim 13, wherein the signal chain is processed in a differentialmode, and further wherein the differential mode comprises maintaining abalanced pair of conductors.
 19. The system of claim 13, wherein pixelsare grouped into one or more rows and one or more columns, with each rowand each column receiving an individual signal chain, and furtherwherein each row and each column receiving the individual signal chainpermits dynamic polarization transmission and reception, and beamsteering in azimuth and elevation.
 20. The system of claim 13, furthercomprising circulator circuitry to enable simultaneous Tx and Rxoperations of the DSA antenna.